Something new at the library: Sunday hours

SAN MARCOS -- Some surfed the Internet. Others scoured the
shelves for a good book to read, but all area residents who stopped
by the San Marcos branch of the San Diego County library yesterday
afternoon came to enjoy one thing -- new Sunday hours.

"It's so convenient to come to the library on a Sunday
afternoon," said Kathe Robbins, a teacher at Escondido High School
who lives up the street from the library, located in the San Marcos
Civic Center. "I'm usually too tired to come during the week after
working all day. I get more things done on the weekend."

Robbins, who was browsing the book shelves for a copy of "Eva
Luna," was one of a number of San Marcos residents who visited the
15,000-square-foot facility to take advantage of the library's
first Sunday hours since its opening in 1994.

Starting yesterday, the San Marcos, Bonita, Santee, and La Mesa
branch libraries are now open from 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays, in
addition to six other libraries with Sunday hours positioned
throughout San Diego. County Library Director Jose Aponte said the
extra hours are part of a plan to focus on increasing the capacity
and access to library resources for residents in the county.

"In a time of diminishing resources when many libraries are
closing, we're opening libraries and expanding hours," said Aponte.
"It's a testament to our fiscal stability."

Aponte said the County looked at factors like demographics,
circulation, technology and resources, and determined that the San
Marcos library was big enough to accommodate the needs of a Sunday
facility.

"San Marcos is a growing community," said Aponte. "They're the
fifth ranking library in terms of circulation out of 32 libraries
in the county. So, they are very busy users."

Sunday is an especially popular day for a number of reasons.

"Sunday is a day when most people don't work, and have the most
time to visit a library," said Wynne Weiss, county librarian. "So,
we get to reach people we don't reach during the week."

In addition, Sunday hours benefit students, from elementary
school to college, who use the computers and collections as
research and support for their studies, with free Internet access
and computer use being one of the biggest reasons people come to
the library in the first place, said Weiss.

For 10-year-old student Jorge Mondragon, the new hours were a
lifesaver. He spent Sunday afternoon typing up a homework
assignment for his writing class.

"I don't have a computer at home, so if it wasn't open, I'd
freak out," said Mondragon, who was accompanied by his older
sister, Juana.

Alexis Camacho, a sophomore at Mission Hills High School,
frequents the library two or three days a week to check out books,
do research and use the Internet, since he doesn't have a
connection at home.

Weekends are the best time for him to come because there's no
school, he said.

"If you forget to do something on Saturday, you can just come in
the next day," Camacho said as he sat at the computer station with
his 11-year-old brother Francisco. "Plus, Sunday is a pretty boring
day, so it gives us something to do."